Monday and Tuesday were meant to be PED days (the Ontario equivalent of a PA Day). Monday we were in school just doing independant work, and Tuesday all of the teachers were meeting at the "complex" (also known as the towns ultra-fancy arena!) at 9am. So we dutifully show up before nine, but there are very few teachers hanging around, which is no big deal, so we sit on a bench to wait. Eventually someone tells us that the meetings are postponed until 10am; so we decide to wait it out rather than walk back home and just come right back again.
Then the principal arrives and tells us that the meetings will be cancelled due to an "incident" in the community. Someone living right across the road from the public school (and the public school is right beside the highschool) was wandering the neighbourhood in the middle of the night very drunk. My knowlege of the situation is very fuzzy, because we weren't really told the full story (since cops can't disclose that sort of thing), but from what I know, a neighbour saw this person and called the cops because the inebriated gentleman apparently owned quite a few guns. Not that gun ownership is such a strange thing here; there are many hunters and as far as I know native people living on the reserve don't have to worry about firearm permits or any such thing. So the police shut down the entire area, residents were evacuated in the middle of the night and the man didn't come out of his house until after 1pm the next day.
So the principal tells us to go home for the day on Tuesday, since all the roads near the school are blocked off by police and the school is of course closed anyhow. Crazy stuff! So we go home, relax and just stay away from the area.
Wednesday the school and several School Board members held a meeting to discuss everything; how everyone was feeling, their concerns and questions etc. There were many upset teachers (many of them probably living in that area that got knocks on their doors at 2am), so the meeting went on for a while. Towards the end it wasn't even really about the incident at all, but just concerns in general about the community and handling students. Being so new, I kind of felt removed from the situation. Yes, it happened in the town in which I now live, but I feel like that sort of thing can happen absolutely anywhere so I'm not going to worry about it too much. Life in general is dangerous and a big chaotic mess, isn't it?
Today (Thursday) I was back in school as per usual. All of the sudden I've gone from 3 students (bliss! heaven!) to 8 (booo! hellish!!) and they're all united in their efforts to make my life difficult, but that's alright.
Then the principal arrives and tells us that the meetings will be cancelled due to an "incident" in the community. Someone living right across the road from the public school (and the public school is right beside the highschool) was wandering the neighbourhood in the middle of the night very drunk. My knowlege of the situation is very fuzzy, because we weren't really told the full story (since cops can't disclose that sort of thing), but from what I know, a neighbour saw this person and called the cops because the inebriated gentleman apparently owned quite a few guns. Not that gun ownership is such a strange thing here; there are many hunters and as far as I know native people living on the reserve don't have to worry about firearm permits or any such thing. So the police shut down the entire area, residents were evacuated in the middle of the night and the man didn't come out of his house until after 1pm the next day.
So the principal tells us to go home for the day on Tuesday, since all the roads near the school are blocked off by police and the school is of course closed anyhow. Crazy stuff! So we go home, relax and just stay away from the area.
Wednesday the school and several School Board members held a meeting to discuss everything; how everyone was feeling, their concerns and questions etc. There were many upset teachers (many of them probably living in that area that got knocks on their doors at 2am), so the meeting went on for a while. Towards the end it wasn't even really about the incident at all, but just concerns in general about the community and handling students. Being so new, I kind of felt removed from the situation. Yes, it happened in the town in which I now live, but I feel like that sort of thing can happen absolutely anywhere so I'm not going to worry about it too much. Life in general is dangerous and a big chaotic mess, isn't it?
Today (Thursday) I was back in school as per usual. All of the sudden I've gone from 3 students (bliss! heaven!) to 8 (booo! hellish!!) and they're all united in their efforts to make my life difficult, but that's alright.
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